Galway manager Padraic Joyce has blasted the decision to award a free against John Daly in the closing stages of today's All-Ireland SFC final.

The game was still in the melting pot on 0-16 apiece in the 67th minute when centre-back Daly was penalised while in possession for appearing to hold the arm of Kerry substitute Killian Spillane. Man-of-the-match David Clifford then curled over the free as the Kingdom found more in their energy reserves to carve out a four-point win.

“To me, the most important and crucial part of the game is how they got a free when the game was 16 points apiece. I couldn’t get over it," Joyce said in his post-match media briefing.

"From where I was standing, looked to be like Damien Comer was pushed in the back and it should have been a free out and then he gave a free against John Daly for apparently holding his hand.

"John Daly had the ball in his hand, trying to get out. The reason his hand was up high was to stop the Kerry fella’s hand from going around his neck, which is what happened. Can’t get over it.

"Those frees are like tap-overs for the likes of Clifford. It was a two-point swing for us, we had the momentum at that stage."

The Killererin clubman hailed the performances of his ace attacker Shane Walsh and midfield colossal Cillian McDaid, who contributed 0-13 between them.

"He [Shane] was good, he was exceptional, in fairness to him. He kicked nine points, left foot and right foot, he was really, really good., We probably should have got a little bit more ball to him towards the end of the game," he added.

"[Cillian] was exceptional on the attacking side, he kicked three or four scores, kicked one or two wide as well. But he was exceptional, fought for everything."

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